I don't speak slang

Bra, last night was a lank sick jol, bra, epic smut with my floss. What is that? What does that mean? Surely there are easier ways of communicating the grandeur of the previous evening’s festivities. I’m not saying that I’m completely against the use of slang. It just eludes me how people can use it so often in the space of one sentence. Slang has penetrated the English language and cemented it’s prominence in the vocabulary of the wannabee surfers and try-hard hipsters.

Do I use slang? Yes, occasionally I do. It’s good to keep up with the times and know what people are actually saying when they feed you a mouthfull of gibberish. But slang should be used with caution. It should be the small hint of spice in an already delicious dish. Slang is there to complement your vocabulary, not to dominate it.

People can get too attached to slang and end up relying on it to communicate. This translates into a neglect for the English Language and people begin to flounder when faced with having to string together a sensible sentence. But the way people speak has changed a lot over the years. I would find it rather disturbing and slightly amusing if we all spoke the way they did in Shakespeare’s time. So I’m not saying we need to halt the evolution of human speech.

Slang is also used too loosely. Because slang words are fabricated, their definition is hard to pin down. Take, for example, the word, “vibe”. “Vibe” can be used in various ways to mean different things. “Last night was such a vibe.”; “Are you two vibing?”; “What’s you’re vibe tonight?”; "Let’s have a vibe at your place this weekend.”. Basically, the word “vibe” can be slotted in to replace the words: good time, flirting/courting, plans and party. Imagine you were to actually construct a sentence using all those words but substitute them with vibe. It would not make sense. The thing that frightens me is that people exist out there who would do such a thing and think nothing of it.

Slang is a wonderful thing. It really is. I find it to be an expression of one’s creativity since, after, all that’s essentially what it is – People creating new words or new ways of using words. I just don’t want the English Language to be forgotten about. Let slang be a device used in moderation. As in most cases, “less is more”. Don’t let slang rule your tongue. People have a lot of interesting and important things to say. Why not say it properly?